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READING PASSAGE 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage
1 below.

We French do love to demonstrate

(A) Josiane Bertrand has a small family business – a neighbourhood charcuterie selling

sausage, poached pigs’ trotters, pate and jellied pig snouts. Her ham, she says, is the best in
Paris and her queue of customers is long. Despite the ceaseless rain outside – among all its
other woes, France is now flooding – it’s a convivial crowd waiting to be served, and the
animated conversation is all about strikes.

(B) If the opinion pages of Le Monde are to be believed, the charcuterie queue is a pretty
accurate reflection of the mood of the country. Split, roughly half and half, between those for
the Work Bill and those against. Philippe’s 28. He’s landed what most French would regard
as a dream job. He’s a fonctionnaire working in local government. A fonctionnaire is an
employee of the French state in almost any form of public administration and service. It’s a
job for life – with solid pay and conditions, fixed working hours, a good pension, generous
holidays. So, what many young French people aspire to is not to change the world – explore,
create, set-up alone – but, with self-employment difficult and taxes punitive, they dream of
becoming steadily employed bureaucrats.

(C) Philippe knows he’s lucky. And he’s against any change. “I’m happy,” he says. “I know
exactly where I am and where I’ll be in 40 years’ time, with a good pension.” Eleonore, who
has four children, two of them dancing around the shop as they wait, is in her early 40s. As a
secondary school teacher she has also got a job for life and generous state benefits. But,
unlike Philippe, she’s all for change. “It can’t go on like this. For every person like me, there
are 20 or more with no hope at all,” she says.

(D) A quarter of all French people under 25, many of them well-qualified, have no work. A
large number of those are from immigrant families, making their chances of employment
even slimmer. These are the kind of people who voted Francois Hollande into the presidency
in 2012, with his pledge to end the country’s employment troubles.

chemical molecules – phospholipids. These molecules are constructed from two parts: tails
made up of 2 molecules of fat that ‘avoid’ water and heads that have an affinity for water. For
this specific behaviour the phospholipid’s tails are called hydrophobic (‘hydro’ means water
and ‘phobia’ means fear) and heads are called hydrophilic (‘philos’ means love). When
phospholipids are added to water, they self-assemble into double-layered structures, shielding
their hydrophobic portions from water and exposing their hydrophilic portions to the

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environment. This phospholipid bilayer may resemble a sandwich, where phospholipid heads
are bread rolls and tails are the sandwich filling.

(C) In addition to lipids, membranes are loaded with proteins. They usually go through the
lipid bilayer and are exposed to both aqueous environment and cell’s interior. In fact, proteins
account for roughly half the mass of most cellular membranes. They make the membrane
semi-permeable, which means that some molecules can diffuse across the lipid bilayer but
others cannot. Small hydrophobic molecules and gases like oxygen and carbon dioxide cross
membranes rapidly. Small molecules, such as water and ethanol, can also pass through
membranes, but they do so more slowly. On the other hand, cell membranes restrict diffusion
of highly charged molecules, such as ions, and large molecules, such as sugars and amino
acids. The passage of these molecules relies on specific transport proteins embedded in the
membrane.

(D) Membrane transport proteins are specific and selective for the molecules they move, and
they often use energy to enhance passage. Also, these proteins transport some nutrients
against the concentration gradient, which requires additional energy. The ability to maintain
concentration gradients and sometimes move materials against them is vital to cell health and
maintenance. Thanks to membrane barriers and transport proteins, the cell can accumulate
nutrients in higher concentrations than exist in the environment and, conversely, dispose of
waste products.

(E) Other membrane-embedded proteins have communication-related jobs. Large molecules

from the extracellular environment, such as hormones or immune mediators, bind to the
receptor proteins on the cell membrane. Such binding causes a conformational change in the
protein that transmits a signal to intracellular messenger molecules. Like transport proteins,
receptor proteins are specific and selective for the molecules they bind.

(F) Another important type of membrane’s components are cholesterol molecules, which

account for about 20 percent of the lipids in animal cell plasma membranes. However,
cholesterol is not present in bacterial membranes or mitochondrial membranes. The
cholesterol molecules are embedded in place of phospholipid molecules and help to regulate
the stiffness of membranes. To function properly, the cell membrane should be in fluid state.
Cholesterol reduces membrane fluidity at moderate temperatures by reducing the moving of
phospholipids. But at low temperatures, it hinders solidification by disrupting the regular
packing of phospholipids.

Questions 28-30

Label the diagram below.

Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer. Do not write the
articles.

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Which elements of cell membrane correspond to the numbers in the diagram?

Questions 31-35

Reading Passage 3 has six paragraphs, A-F.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter, A–F, in boxes 31–35 on your answer sheet.

Specific proteins transport nutrients from the external environment against the concentration
gradient. 

The barrier function of cell membranes is supported by a bilayer of phospholipids. 

The level of membrane fluidity is regulated by cholesterol molecules. 

The importance of cell membranes are often underestimated. 

Proteins make the membrane semi-permeable. 

Questions 36–40

Complete the summary below.

Choose ONLY ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 36–40 on your answer sheet.

Cell membranes protect cells and organize their activities. The first main function of cell
membrane – barrier function – is carried by phospholipids. These molecules don’t solve in
water and, thus, are ideal for cells that always exist in 36.  environment.

In addition to lipids, membranes are loaded with 37.  that make the membrane 38.  , which
means that some molecules can diffuse across the lipid bilayer but others cannot. One of the
most important types of membrane proteins are 39.  proteins and receptor proteins.

The last type of membrane elements are cholesterol molecules, which are embedded in place
of 40.  molecules and help to regulate the stiffness

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1. E
2. H
3. F
4. D
5. B
6. C
7. A
8. G
9. True
10. False
11. False
12. True
13. Not Given
14.  
15. True
16. True
17. False
18. False
19. Not Given
20. True
21. Not Given
22. True
23. Distinctive
24. Prevalent
25. Tick exposure
26. Climate change
27. Garden
28. Protein
29. Phospholipid
30. Cholesterol
31. D
32. B
33. F
34. A
35. C
36. Aqueous
37. Proteins
38. Semi-permeable
39. Transport
40. Phospholipids

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